Technical Field
The present invention relates to a thin film capacitor having a capacitance forming member where thin film electrodes and thin film dielectrics have been alternately stacked on one another on a supporting substrate in a thin film manufacturing process.
Background Art
Recent demand has been focused on thin film capacitors having a MIM (metal-insulator-metal) capacitance generating section formed on a supporting substrate by a thin film manufacturing process, in order for the capacitor, which is an electronic component, to have a lower profile. Structures are being researched for this type of thin film capacitor in which a large number of thin film electrodes and thin film dielectrics are stacked on one another in the capacitance generating section in order to obtain a high capacitance.
A thin film capacitor having a pyramid structure in which the ends of the capacitance generating section are stepped from bottom (supporting substrate direction) to top is known as one type of the abovementioned structure. This pyramid-structured capacitance generating section is manufactured by collectively forming the thin film electrodes and thin film dielectrics alternately; etching from the top layer downwards; and the like. In this type of structure, however, the intersection area of the thin film electrodes is reduced, which lowers capacitance density.
In order to solve this type of issue, it has been proposed to only pattern the thin film electrodes, and not the thin film dielectrics, thereby forming a thin film capacitor that has a structure similar to that of an MLCC (multi-layer ceramic capacitor).
When manufacturing a thin film capacitor with a structure similar to that of an MLCC, it is important to connect electrically in a robust manner the respective thin film electrodes and external electrodes. A conventional proposal concerning this method is to use dicing to expose the respective ends of the stacked thin film electrodes and to make these electrodes directly connect with the external electrodes (see Patent Document 1, for example).